Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

In the evening, at the city gate.

A Han Dynasty delegation of soldiers and horses rushed quickly down the street.

The Chu soldiers guarding the city gate suddenly became nervous and used their spears to block the way out of the city.

The leader stepped forward and asked, "Why did you leave the city to meet the Han envoy?"

A captain at the head of the Han Dynasty delegation stepped forward and said in a cold voice: "The crown prince of your dynasty asked my master to investigate the Hongyufang case. We have got a clue and need to leave the city immediately."

The sergeant raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and couldn't help but look at the Han army delegation several times. He was relieved when he saw that Zhang Qian was not in sight.

"Since we have found the clue, it is not inconvenient for us to stop you. Please go ahead~"

The Chu army sergeant waved his right hand, and the soldiers blocking the door immediately retreated.

The Han army captain breathed a sigh of relief, but on the surface he looked calm and left quickly with his men.

It was not until they left the city gate that Zhang Qian, who was hiding in the army, sneered.

But three quarters of an hour later, the Tang army delegation also arrived at the city gate.

The Chu army sergeant, who looked confused, stepped forward and asked, "Could it be that the Tang envoy has also found a clue and is preparing to leave the city?"

The leading centurion of the Tang army twitched his mouth, and his mind moved, and he immediately understood what it meant.

He sneered: "Has the Han envoy left the city?"

"That's right. They said they found clues to the Hongyufang case and they just left the city not long ago." The sergeant of the Chu army said truthfully.

The Tang army centurion narrowed his eyes, and a hint of murderous intent flashed across his eyes: "Very good, then let's see who is the final winner tonight."

"Someone, get out of the city immediately!"

The Chu army no longer tried to stop them and allowed them to leave the city quickly.

Half an hour later.

The setting sun dyed the rocky beach in the western suburbs red gold. Zhang Qian took off the crown of the Han envoy. His strong body was wrapped in a dark tight outfit, and the ring-handled sword at his waist shone with green light in the twilight.

In the opposite valley, Du Ruhui was wiping the dirt off his face with a handkerchief, while thirty Tang army crossbowmen behind him had climbed to the commanding heights.

"Du Ruhui is indeed a rat!"

Zhang Qian drew out his ring-handled sword with his backhand, the blade cutting through the twilight, and said coldly: "You said all that bullshit in the East Palace of Chu State, do you think that my blade is not good enough?"

"Tonight, I will use your blood to prove the sharpness of my blade!"

Du Ruhui threw the stained handkerchief into the stream, watched it being swallowed by the bloody sunset, and sneered:

"Zhang Qian, stop pretending to be so hypocritical with me!"

"Do you think I don't know that you were the one who secretly ordered the Hongyufang case? You want to drag me into this, but how can I let you do that?"

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Qian's somewhat ferocious face suddenly revealed a mocking expression: "Without any evidence, you are just talking nonsense!"

"Humph, if it was really me who did it, do you think I would deliberately leave the Three Dynasties Mark?"

"If you can't even see through this scheme of framing others, you've lived for decades in vain!"

"You are the most trusted counselor of the Tang Emperor, but your opinion is just so-so."

This remark completely angered Du Ruhui.

"Humph, you, the Han Dynasty envoy, are only good at talking!"

"Really? Now let me show you how sharp my knife is!"

The knife flashed like thunder!

The two of them had a disagreement and started fighting immediately!

Zhang Qian flew across the three-meter-high stream and chopped the huge rocks blocking his way with his ring-handled sword.

The Tang army fired a rain of arrows, but the Han envoys' death squad used the corpses of their companions as shields and charged forward madly under the arrows.

A poisonous arrow brushed past Zhang Qian's ear. He grabbed the arrow shaft and threw it back. Suddenly, screams of the dead man falling from the cliff were heard.

"Sharp Arrow Formation!" Du Ruhui's command flag waved in the smoke and dust.

The Tang army suddenly split into three groups. The left and right wings held hook-and-sickle spears to cut off the Han army's retreat, while the central army set up large iron shields and pressed forward step by step.

Zhang Qian roared and split the shield formation, but found a trip wire hidden in the back - the tendons of ten Han envoys were cut instantly.

“How dare you, you brat!” Zhang Qian’s eyes turned red, and his ring-handled sword danced into a silver whirlwind.

Where the blade passed, the Tang army's chain mail flew like pieces of paper.

When he rushed to within ten steps of Du Ruhui, the ground suddenly collapsed - it turned out to be a pit that had been dug long ago, with poisoned caltrops stuck upside down at the bottom!

At the critical moment, Zhang Qian swung his knife into the rock wall, and sparks drew a sharp arc of light in the twilight.

He used the force to flip over and leap onto the high platform on the east side, but saw that Du Ruhui's command flag was pointing to the rear of the Han army.

Three whistling arrows wrapped in kerosene whistled into the sky, and the pre-buried sulfur and saltpeter exploded, turning the Han army's retreat route into a sea of fire.

Zhang Qian's face darkened and he swung the knife in his hand wildly, determined to cut his way out.

At the same time, on a high peak not far away, a pair of cold eyes were watching all this in front of the messenger.

"Do you know why you chose this place?"

Chu Ning broke off a pine branch and drew a topographic map on the sand at the edge of the cliff.

Screams came from below along with the heat wave. Shen Zhengqing watched the Han army being engulfed by flames, and his hand holding the knife trembled slightly.

"The rocky beach obscures the view, the reflection of the setting sun in the stream interferes with the arrow's aim, and the pine branches point to the location of the sea of fire."

"More importantly..."

He suddenly lifted the grass at his feet, revealing a listening jar buried there - the underground pottery jar amplified the sound of horse hooves ten miles away several times.

Shen Zhengqing's pupils suddenly shrank: "Your Highness knew they would come!"

"When the two of them left the inn, their whereabouts were exposed." Chu Ning crushed the pine cones, and the resin covered his fingertips.

"This battle is exactly what I want to see."

He smiled and pointed at the Han envoy Zhang Qian who was still fighting in the sea of fire: "Do they think they have planned everything and can easily leave Kyoto?

"I am just using their tricks to get rid of them."

When two countries are at war, they do not kill envoys. As the crown prince of Chu, it is certainly not appropriate for him to kill the envoys of the two countries.

But if the envoys of the two countries killed him themselves, then it has nothing to do with the State of Chu!

As they were talking, the battle situation below the cliff suddenly changed.

The Han army warriors, covered in flames, hugged the Tang army soldiers and jumped into the stream. In the white mist caused by the collision of water and fire, Zhang Qian's ring-handled sword finally reached Du Ruhui.

"Lord be careful!"

The soldiers of the Tang army delegation were horrified and immediately rushed forward to block the knife with their bodies.

Du Ruhui took the opportunity to roll towards the crevice and hissed, "Zhang Qian, you can't escape tonight!"

The Tang army envoys behind them immediately rushed forward, and the Han army envoys were not much less likely to rush forward and killed them.

The two sides fought fiercely and desperately.

The moonlight at the hour of Hai shines on the charred corpses all over the ground.

The stream of water, wrapped in blood foam, flowed through Zhang Qian's cracked knuckles. The ring-handled sword had cut seventeen gaps in it.

Only half of Du Ruhui's command flag was left. The last few dozen Tang soldiers were leaning against the rock wall, gasping for breath, and their arrows had long been used up.

"Your Highness, do you want to take action?" Shen Zhengqing looked at the tragic scene below and was eager to try.

If we act now, we can catch both sides in one fell swoop.

Chu Ning nodded slightly and was about to speak, but at this moment, the two delegations' soldiers below suddenly rushed in the opposite direction frantically.

"No, they want to escape!"

Shen Zhengqing's face changed drastically: "They were just putting on a show for us. Their real purpose was to paralyze us!"

"Now they are far away from the battlefield at the beginning. It is too late to chase them now!"

At this moment, Shen Zhengqing finally understood.

Zhang Qian and Du Ruhui are not fools.

The fierce battle just now was just a cover.